


stars from my eyes

by franticatlantic



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe, Child Abuse, Homophobic Language, M/M, tyler's a fallen star
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 10:00:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7043635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/franticatlantic/pseuds/franticatlantic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler is grinning, holding his arms out from his sides. His chest is slick with rain, glistening in the moonlight. Josh stares as the drops become harder and more frequent, and the water clinging to his eyelashes makes Tyler's glow shatter into tiny fractals of light. He's a beacon, a sun unto himself. No, not a sun.</p><p>A star.</p>
            </blockquote>





	stars from my eyes

**Author's Note:**

> If you or someone you know is suffering from abuse, tell someone. Quiet is violent.
> 
> Title is from 'Cosmic Love' by Florence + the Machine.
> 
> If there's anything else I should tag that I missed let me know.

The stretch of trees between Josh's house and the highway is almost a mile long. Many years ago, before the highway was even built, before Josh's house was even built, the forest stretched for miles and miles in either direction. Before it was demolished to make way for the Thornton Woods cul de sac.

Josh doesn't know any of this.

All Josh knows is that this is where he goes when his head hurts, when his cheek stings, when his arm burns.

The stars are dazzling this far from the city. That's the only reason Josh likes living in the suburbs. He's the biggest X-Files nerd and one day he wants to work for NASA. Not that he thinks he'll ever be able to raise his math grades enough to do so, but a kid can dream, right?

What else is there, but dreams?

For Josh? Nothing.

He takes a seat against his favorite downed tree, cheek smarting something terrible. He's lucky it was just a slap this time. Frank could have easily curled his fingers back and into a fist and the slap would have turned into a knuckle sandwich.

But he didn't. And for that, at least, Josh is grateful.

Josh leans his head back, dark hair fanning out over deep green moss. It's hard to see any of the vibrant colors of the forest when it's so dark, but he's always admired that type of thing in the daytime. The viridian thatches of leaves overhead, the malachite brightness of the moss seeping over chestnut branches and long, thin pine trees. Josh wants those colors on him, inked into his skin, painted onto his hair.

Maybe one day.

For now, he stares at the stars. The expanse of navy sky with its twinkling crystal dots. If Josh stares long enough and hard enough it all starts to look like a painting, one that Josh isn't a part of. He's just a spectator in a museum, watching the universe go by with sad eyes.

He touches his face, rubs at his cheekbone. Still hurts. He wonders if he'll have a bruise. The one on his ribs still hasn't faded from last time.

He closes his eyes. He's fallen asleep out here plenty of times, and had to pay for it in the morning when he missed school and Frank and his mom couldn't find him. But what does it matter? He's so tired he wishes this fallen tree would swallow him whole, drag him inside until only the slats of his ribs are visible, a tiny cage splintered and cracked.

A flash of light has his eyes open again, gaze settling on a streak of silver-yellow in the sky. A comet, Josh thinks, or maybe a falling star. His eyes slip closed again and he makes a wish.

But the wish is a long one, multi-faceted, and the longer he keeps his eyes closed the brighter the light gets. Until Josh - only halfway through his wish - has to open his eyes to see what the hell is going on. The comet or star or whatever the hell it is flies overhead and lands with a rumble a few yards into the forest. The ground shakes.

Josh is on his feet in a flash, staring into the trees with his blood rushing feverishly beneath his skin. He glances back toward his house, where he can just see the faint glow of the kitchen light through the trees.

Someone else had to have heard that. Or felt it, at least.

Josh waits a while, but all he hears is a neighbor's dog barking.

He should go home. The thing in the woods, whatever it is, has nothing to do with him. It's a meteor or maybe a piece of debris from a satellite. He heard sometimes antennas break off of space stations and plummet toward Earth so it's probably something like that.

But, Josh thinks, this has everything to do with him. He's the only person here right now, a witness to whatever anomaly just took place. He feels…obligated to investigate.

His steps are hesitant, vaulting over his favorite downed tree and venturing further into the forest. Eventually he's so far in he can no longer see the kitchen light when he looks back. The dog's barking is faint, too.

There's a glow through the trees. It's blue and silver and yellow all at the same time. It shatters through the tree trunks and becomes whole once Josh steps into the clearing.

In the few minutes it took him to get from his favorite downed tree to the small clearing in the woods, Josh had convinced himself that the fallen something was most definitely wreckage from an orbiting satellite. He planned to break a piece off and take it home, put it on his dresser as a memento. To possess something from NASA would be a dream come true for Josh.

But the boy huddled in the middle of the clearing is most definitely not satellite refuse.

There's a small crater of dust surrounding the boy, like a giant hand scooped all the trees and moss and grass out and left behind just the dirt.

The boy is rising slowly, dusting himself off and coughing a lot. Josh doesn't move, even though he knows he should probably be scared. His fight or flight response leaves a lot to be desired.

The boy looks human - completely naked - but he has these strange marks all over his body. Three rings around his wrist, three more further up near his elbow, boxes on his bicep and either side of his chest. Then there are these weird…hieroglyphics is the way Josh would describe them, on the boy's other arm. They're all glowing.

If there are more markings Josh can't see them right now.

"Are you an alien?" Josh blurts.

The boy starts, stumbling back before catching himself with an odd, jerky movement. He doesn't seem to be embarrassed that Josh is here staring at him with no clothes on, not in the way a normal person would be. There's a different sort of embarrassment to his thin limbs and wide, dark eyes.

"Hi," the boy says, ignoring Josh's question. Rude.

"Are you?" Josh asks again, takes a step forward. Just to check. To make sure the boy's not going to run away from him. He doesn't. "You fell. From up there, right?"

Josh points toward the sky and the boy, after a long wayward glance in the direction of Josh's finger, nods.

Josh is 99% positive he's an alien.

But seeing as he has no experience conversing with alien lifeforms, he decides that because the boy looks human and acts (mostly) human, Josh should continue the conversation the way two humans would.

"I'm Josh. What's your name?" He shuffles forward a few more steps and the boy stays put.

"I'm…" The boy's eyes dart around the clearing, up to the rest of the stars in the sky, and then to Josh. "Tyler."

Josh nods, reaching the point that if he wanted to he could reach out and touch Tyler. "It's nice to meet you, Tyler."

Tyler giggles, showing a row of tiny crooked teeth, and the marks on his arms and chest surge with a bright flicker. The action seems to startle him, and he stops laughing.

"Aren't you cold?" Josh asks, and dares to extend a hand.

Tyler looks at Josh's hand like he doesn't know what to do about it. "No. I feel fine."

Josh reaches forward and wraps his fingers around Tyler's palm. True to his word, Tyler feels warm despite the chilly breeze blowing through the trees.

And Josh has seen ET enough to know what happens when you encounter an alien in the shed. Or the forest, as in Josh's case. You take him back to your house and hide him in your room. That's just a fact. "You should come with me," Josh tells Tyler.

Tyler looks…delighted would be too weak a word to describe the expression that crosses Tyler's face. His markings flare and Josh can feel the heat from the rings on Tyler's wrist, so close to where they're holding hands.

Tyler squeezes Josh's fingers and takes a step toward him, but they both stop when they hear a shout. It sounds far away, possibly on the other side of the highway.

"Is that someone you know?" Josh asks, because if Tyler has other alien pals that fell from the sky they should try to find them, right?

But Tyler shakes his head, his eyes now rimmed with worry. He tugs at Josh's hand, pulling him in the direction of the house. "We should go," he says, and it looks like his black hair is flattening against his forehead all by itself. He gives another hard pull. "We have to _go_."

"Okay," Josh says, even though the someone on the other side of the highway shouts again, a little louder this time.

Josh lets Tyler drag him out of the clearing and back into the trees.

-

He sneaks Tyler in through the back door, throws his jacket at him so that Tyler's glow doesn't shine under any of the doors lining the upstairs hallway. Frank probably passed out an hour ago, but Josh doesn't need his siblings asking why he's bringing a half-naked boy into the house.

Once in his room at the very end of the hall, Josh shuts the door and gets Tyler some clothes. He pulls the pants on, even though they dip at his waist and bunch around his ankles, but he doesn't seem to want to put the shirt on.

"Go ahead," Josh urges. "It won't hurt you."

Tyler pulls the shirt over his head, but struggles with the sleeves so Josh helps him get his arms through. Josh can still see the glowing marks on Tyler's chest, but they're muted now. The ones on his arms seem to flare when Josh touches him.

"Do you always glow like that?"

Tyler runs a hand down the shirt, takes the hem and sort of rubs it between his fingers. "I…don't know." He looks up at Josh. "This is my first time here."

"On Earth, you mean."

"Yes."

"So you _are_ an alien." Josh knew it.

"No, silly. I'm a fallen star." The bridge of Tyler's nose crinkles when he laughs, his markings blaze, and his hair _floofs_. Like an anime character.

Josh has to sit down for a second, to catch his breath. Tyler continues to stand, though, looking around the room and rubbing his hands all over the shirt Josh gave him.

When he's had time to process everything (as much as he can), Josh pats the bed beside him. "D'you wanna sit?"

Tyler looks at the bed, then down at his legs, like he hadn't even realized he'd been using them. "Mhm," he hums, sitting cross-legged next to Josh and running his hands over the covers.

"If you're a star, why do you look like a person?"

"We adopt the image of the highest life form of whatever planet we land on." It looks like it pains him to say so.

"How do you know how to talk and walk and all?"

"I just…do."

"Even though this is your first time here?"

Tyler nods, staring at a spot just over Josh's shoulder. "…someone's coming."

"Huh?" Josh asks stupidly, but a moment later he hears footsteps in the hall. They're not the lumbering footfalls of his step-father, but he still leaps up, dragging Tyler with him.

Tyler makes no complaint as Josh leads him to the door and sort of shoves him into the corner. He fishes his phone out of his pocket just as the door opens.

"Josh?" His mom asks.

"Yeah?" Josh tries to look as innocent as possible, which is hard to do because he's standing in the middle of the room doing absolutely nothing except looking hella suspicious.

"I thought I heard voices. Were you talking to someone?"

Josh brandishes his phone. "Nick."

His mom's eyes are tired as she clutches at the front of her shirt. "Oh, thank God. Just…keep it down, yeah?"

Josh thought they were being quiet enough, but if his mom could hear them then Frank would definitely be able to once he was out of his drunken stupor.

So he nods, watching as Tyler reaches out with one glowing arm. His fingers are almost curling around the doorframe. Josh, most likely going through cardiac arrest at the sight, darts forward and grabs the door handle, using his elbow to usher Tyler further back into the corner. "Well, I'm really tired, Mom. It's been a long night. I think I'm gonna head to bed."

His mother doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary, just watches the right side of Josh's face. Even though it must be hard to see anything in the dark of his room. "I'm so sorry, Josh."

Tyler has started to squirm, so Josh reaches out and plants a hand on his chest. His glow gets so bright Josh is sure his mom is going to see. "It's fine, Mom. It doesn't even hurt anymore. Goodnight."

He's closing the door before his mom can say anything else, his hand falling from Tyler's chest. "What the hell was that?" He hisses.

"I'm sorry!" Tyler's eyes are wide, and his voice is too loud.

Josh shushes him. "Whisper," he orders, hoping Tyler will know what the word means.

He does, stumbling away from the wall. "I'm sorry," he repeats, much quieter. "I didn't know who that was."

"It was my mom."

"Oh. Right," Tyler says, like he understands completely.

Josh sits back on his bed and Tyler joins him without having to be told to do so. He thinks for a minute, watching Tyler watching him. Tyler's hands are still, for now. "Did you mean to come to Earth?"

Tyler purses his lips, then blows a raspberry. "Yes. But you can't ask me what for."

"Why not?"

"You just can't. Because I'm not allowed to tell you."

Josh wants to argue, but doesn't. He's pretty sure Tyler's alien (sorry, _fallen star_ ) conviction would be stronger than any human's anyway. He'd never get an answer out of him.

"Then…what do we do now?"

Tyler grabs Josh's pillow and squeezes it. "Can we sleep?"

Loose ends don't bother Josh the same way they bother other people. He doesn't know why Tyler's here or what he was looking for or even if he was looking for anything in the first place. But if Tyler wants to sleep Josh thinks that's a good idea. He has school early anyway.

"Sure."

Josh takes the pillow back from Tyler and places it once more at the head of the bed. He realizes that there's nowhere else for Tyler to sleep so he reclines and pulls a confused-looking Tyler down beside him.

They lay like that, like the most awkward married couple, for a while.

Until Josh gets restless and turns to lay on his side, facing Tyler. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Depends what it is," Tyler whispers, turning his head so that he can look at Josh.

"Is Tyler your real name?"

There's a long pause. So long that Josh wonders if Tyler's fallen asleep. Then Tyler just says, "no."

"Don't you want me to call you something else, then?"

"No."

Tyler turns away from Josh. His glow is gone and the marks on the arm Josh can see are pitch black. Josh rolls onto his back again.

It doesn't take him long to fall asleep.

-

When he wakes, it's a few minutes before his alarm's set to go off. The sun streaming through the window is most likely what woke him. He has to squint against it, turning his head toward the warm weight at his side.

Tyler is wrapped around him, arms holding tight to Josh's elbow with his head pillowed on Josh's chest. He's making these breathy little noises as he sleeps. The marks on his arms look like tattoos now. Josh is sure the ones he can't see, the ones covered by the T-shirt, look the same.

Josh presses his finger to one of the symbols on Tyler's forearm, the one that looks like a circle with a line through it. It emits a faint light and warms immediately under his touch.

Tyler wriggles and opens his eyes. His hair brushes Josh's chin as he looks up, blinking sleep-slick eyes.

"Morning," Josh whispers, or is going to whisper.

He never gets the chance, lips just forming the word, because Tyler is gasping and throwing himself on top of him. His thin legs bracket Josh's hips and he's curling his torso over Josh's, hands holding tight to Josh's face.

"What's wrong?" Josh has his hands on Tyler's thighs because he's not sure where else to put them.

Tyler is studying Josh's face intently, specifically the right side of his face. Where Frank slapped him last night.

Josh expects him to ask what happened, expects he'll have to pull something out of his ass and lie to Tyler. But Tyler just skims his fingers down Josh's cheek, feather-light, and then he's leaning down.

Josh knows what he's doing before he does it, but he doesn't stop him. He thinks about it, thinks about telling Tyler that's not what friends do in the human world. Kissing is done by people in love, people who are dating, etc.

But he lets Tyler kiss him, their lips pressing together for one long moment. It's dry, save for where Josh can feel a small drop of spit at the corner of Tyler's mouth where he drooled while he slept. And it's chaste, just a peck in terms of what they could be doing.

Tyler pulls back and he's beaming. Literally. His markings are so bright Josh has to squint to look at him. They shine through the shirt Josh gave him, glare at him from Tyler's arms. And his hair is voluminous, standing almost on end.

"D'you know your hair does this-"

"Shh." Tyler presses his finger to Josh's lips, using his other hand to press on Josh's chin, tilting his head to the side.

The sunlight is nothing compared to Tyler's tattoos.

There's a soft giggle and the pressure on Josh's chin diminishes. When he looks back at Tyler, Tyler is grinning.

"All better," Tyler says, runs a finger down Josh's cheek.

Rather suddenly, Josh feels a trickling warmth along the right side of his face, a pleasant buzz just beneath the skin. He's sure that if he looked in the mirror right now there would be no hint of what Frank had done to him, no bruise or red mark or laceration from Frank's ring. Just skin, maybe a little pink from whatever Tyler had done to him.

"How'd you do that?"

Tyler shrugs. "Jus' knew I could."

Tyler falls to the side again, gazing up at Josh through long, dark lashes. His marks are still bright, hair fluffing.

"You know your hair does this…thing?" Josh presses his palm down over Tyler's hair, flattening the strands. They fling right back up once he raises his hand.

Tyler shakes his head and Josh can hear Abby and Ashley arguing about something across the hall so he figures it's about time to get up. His alarm goes off just as he grabs his phone and after he's turned it off, he sees in the reflection that his face does in fact look normal.

"I've gotta go to school," he tells Tyler as he rolls out of bed.

Tyler watches him get dressed and grab his backpack, root around under the bed for his shoes. When Josh reemerges with both clutched in hand, Tyler has wrapped Josh's blankets around his shoulders. He's looking at Josh balefully and Josh realizes he has to find something to do with him for seven hours.

"You need to stay here, okay?"

"Inside. Right."

"Not just inside. You need to stay in my room. No one else can see you."

"What if I have to…y'know." Tyler's cheeks go this delightful shade of pink, blush standing out against his tan skin.

Josh glances around for his empty Gatorade bottle from last night, holds it out to Tyler.

Tyler does not look amused. "What about number two?"

"Ugh, fine. You can leave, but only to go to the bathroom. Otherwise, stay here. I have video games you can play or some books on the shelf."

"What about that?" Tyler points to Josh's drum set in the opposite corner.

Josh chews his lip. He would love for Tyler to be able to bang around and entertain himself, but the noise is a definite no. "Sorry. Just wait until I come home, okay? I'll only be gone a couple of hours."

"Can't you stay home?" Tyler grouses, lower lip stuck out in a pout.

Josh thinks about it, he really does. He didn't do any homework last night, never got the chance to study for the History quiz he has, and he's probably going to be too preoccupied thinking about the alien - fallen star - in his room to concentrate. But if he misses any more days the school officials are liable to kick him out. Plus Frank would find out somehow.

But then he has an idea. "Do you wanna come with me? I can sneak you out and then we can tell everyone you're a transfer or something."

Tyler looks away from Josh, to the window. His tattoos pulse once and then go dark again. His answer is hushed. "No. Think I'm just gonna sleep for a while." Then he collapses on Josh's bed and buries himself in the covers, so that Josh can only see the very top of his black, black hair.

"Okay. Just sit tight. I'll be home before you know it."

-

School is…well, school is school. He sleeps through most of his classes, bombs his History quiz, gets yelled at for not doing his homework, eats lunch with Nick and Ben, and thinks about Tyler a whole lot. No one should be home with him during the day, but his mom normally gets off around 2 so that's an entire hour before Josh gets out of school that leaves Tyler to be seen or heard or play Josh's video games too loudly. Shit, he forgot to mention that.

Tyler seemed to understand that he couldn't leave Josh's room, but Josh isn't sure he understood why. To Josh, Tyler is a weird amalgamation of childhood naiveté and 90 year old wisdom.

Josh always knew aliens couldn't just be little green men with big heads, not if they were as evolved and advanced as everyone said they would be, had they existed. But before Tyler, he'd never given the matter much thought other than when he tuned into a late-night episode of the X-Files. After meeting Tyler, he's sure all extraterrestrials must act much the same - they've had a long time to survey the universe, including Earth and its inhabitants, but have never had the chance to experience things firsthand.

Unless some of them have. Josh makes a mental note to remember to ask Tyler about Area 51 and Roswell and UFOs.

He walks home with Jordan, trying to urge his brother along so he can get home as fast as possible and make sure Tyler hasn't blown the house up. Or worse - that his mom hasn't noticed the random kid in Josh's room.

When they finally reach the house, Josh stalls in the hallway while Jordan goes into his room, pretending the zipper on his jacket is stuck. When he's sure Jordan's not going to make an abrupt reappearance, he opens the door and ducks inside.

Tyler's there, in the beanbag chair near the window. Josh's Xbox controller is in his lap and Tyler's mashing buttons, his pink tongue poking out from between his lips. He's turned the volume on the TV down so low Josh can't even hear it from his side of the room.

"Josh!" Tyler shouts, and flings the controller down, leaping up and running over.

Josh is so relieved he doesn't even tell Tyler to stop shouting, just sags back against the door and lets his backpack fall to the floor with a dull thump. Tyler reaches him a moment later, tripping over the bag and landing face first against Josh's chest, arms wrapping tight around Josh's middle. Josh is pretty sure that's where he was headed for anyway so he just winds his arms around Tyler's shoulders.

Tyler's still wearing Josh's clothes, but he doesn't feel as warm as he did last night or even this morning. In fact, he feels cold. Tyler's apparently trying to nuzzle his way into Josh's chest, but Josh pushes his head back with the heel of his palm against Tyler's forehead.

"You're freezing." Josh frowns. "Aren't you cold?"

"Really cold." Tyler's head is straining against Josh's hand, trying to get back to his chest.

But Josh has other plans, takes Tyler's frigid hand and leads him to the bed, where he starts to gather all the covers around him. Tyler goes complacently enough, until he realizes Josh is trying to cocoon him with the comforter. Then he makes an indignant noise and writhes against Josh's hold, wriggling free and pressing himself to Josh's chest once more. He locks his hands at the small of Josh's back and sighs.

"Feels warm here," he exhales, and doesn't move.

Josh pauses for a minute, perplexed, and then decides to gather the covers around them anyway. Josh feels more than sees Tyler's hair starting to rise, tickling his neck and the underside of his chin. When he glances down, he can just see the faint glow of Tyler's marks where they're pressed together.

"That's so cool," Josh breathes.

"Hm?" Tyler raises his head just enough to look at Josh, chin pudging up where it's resting on Josh's chest.

Josh really wants to kiss him again.

"Your…are they tattoos?"

"My…" Tyler looks really lost for a second, then seems to remember himself. He doesn't extract himself from Josh's embrace, but he does give a little glance down. "Oh! Yes, they're tattoos."

"They're cool."

"Thanks." Tyler smiles a crooked smile and glances toward the door. "You should do your homework."

Josh doesn't know how Tyler knows about homework, figures it's much the same as everything else - Tyler knows about some things and others he doesn't.

But Josh doesn't want to do homework; he wants to learn more about Tyler. He says as much.

Tyler makes a face. "But you have to do your homework or else you'll _fail_." He looks like he doesn't know what the word means, like it's been repeated to him many times without any actual explanation.

Josh shrugs. "What's the difference between failing and graduating with all D's?"

"If you do your homework, you'll stop getting D's."

"How do you know that?"

"I don't. " Tyler thinks for a minute. "If you do your homework, I'll answer whatever questions you want me to answer."

"Even about why you're here?"

"Not that." Tyler scowls.

But Josh acquiesces and Tyler allows him to stand and retrieve his bag. When Josh tries to open his books on the desk, though, Tyler makes this loud noise and reaches out to drag Josh's backpack toward the bed. He fixes Josh with a look.

Josh chuckles and joins Tyler on the bed once more.

Josh sits cross-legged with his notebook pillowed in his lap, Tyler latched onto his side. His textbooks are fanned out in front of him, so Josh can pick and choose what subject he wants to work on. He doesn't like being boxed in, having to choose one thing at a time.

"So if Tyler's not your real name, what is?"

"You wouldn't be able to pronounce it."

Josh looks away from cell biology and stares at Tyler.

"It's true! Stars have a language of their own. The closest translation I can think of would be…" Tyler screws up his face, pink tongue peeking out again. "…Seeks-the-Sun, or something like that."

"Seeks-the-Sun?"

"Mhm." Tyler doesn't seem inclined to elaborate so Josh grabs his Math textbook and gets back to his homework.

"Are there other aliens on Earth?"

"Stars. And sure, loads of us. All of us fall at some point."

"Do you always land here?" Josh abandons his Math homework and pulls his History text closer, scribbling an answer on his looseleaf.

"No. Some of us land on moons, some of us land on other planets. It just depends."

"On what?"

"On where we want to go." Tyler reaches out and points at Josh's latest answer. "That's wrong."

It's a question about Egypt, how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. Simple enough, and one that Josh knew the answer to without even having to read the textbook.

He looks at Tyler. "How do you know?"

Tyler rolls his eyes. "Because I was there. We helped build the pyramids. Stars."

So it was true that aliens helped build the pyramids. Josh secretly knew that too, but that answer won't hold up in the face of Mrs. Ridley while she's grading Josh's paper.

"I have to write what the textbook tells me to, Tyler. Sorry."

Tyler gives a long-suffering sigh and Josh can tell he's rolling his eyes, even while he writes the rest of his answer down.

"How do you even know stars helped build the pyramids?" Josh glances at Tyler.

"I've been a star for a very long time," Tyler answers, rubbing his face against Josh's shoulder.

Josh taps his pen against his notebook, watching the sun set outside of the window. "So why are you here?"

"Sneaky," is Tyler's immediate response, closer to Josh's ear than he was before, and he kisses Josh's neck.

Josh moans unconsciously, softly.

"Josh! Dinner!"

His mom's voice has him shooting up, scattering his books everywhere in the process. Tyler, rather innocently, starts to pick them up, close them, and stack them neatly on top of one another.

The growling of his stomach interrupts the beating of his heart, and he claps a hand over it. He looks at Tyler, who hasn't eaten all day.

"I'm so sorry. You have to be hungry."

Tyler mimics Josh, a hand on his stomach as he sits on Josh's bed. "Hrm. I'll try."

Josh assumes he means try to eat. He nods, heading for the door. "I'll bring you something."

"Hurry?" Tyler's eyes are wide, illuminated by the lamp on Josh's bed stand.

"Of course."

-

Dinner is uneventful. Jordan and Ashley bicker about the Bengals game, Josh only eats half of his food, and Frank doesn't hit anyone.

Josh stretches in his chair, pushing out from the table. "I have a ton of homework. Does anyone mind if I take the rest of my food upstairs?"

As always, his mom looks at Frank for a definitive answer.

Frank shakes his head. "Just don't spill anything."

Josh nods and scoops his plate up, heading for the stairs and hesitating when he hears Abigail complaining about Josh getting away with eating in his room. Frank raises his voice and Josh almost turns around. This wouldn't be the first time he'd have to get between his stepdad and one of his siblings. But things simmer down pretty quickly and Josh retreats to his room.

Tyler's still sitting on the bed. It doesn't look like he's moved even an inch since Josh left.

"What's wrong?" Josh asks, handing him the plate of food.

Tyler shrugs and takes it. "Nothing."

Josh sits at his desk and Tyler frowns, skims his hand over the covers beside him. "Can you sit here?"

Josh doesn't say anything else, just folds his legs beneath him as he sits next to Tyler. Tyler reclines against him, raising a brussel sprout to his mouth with his fingers.

Josh doesn't correct him, tell him to use the fork he brought up. Tyler might not even like human food anyway.

Tyler stuffs the brussel sprout into his mouth and gives one hard bite before he grimaces and spits the shredded remains of the sprout back onto his plate with a dissatisfied _bleargh_.

"You _eat_ those?" Tyler gasps.

Josh laughs. "I don't mind them. Some other kids do. Eat the chicken."

Tyler is shaking his head slowly, sticking his tongue out repeatedly in an attempt to scrape the flavor off of his tongue. He puts the plate on Josh's leg and starts pulling the chicken apart with thin fingers.

He doesn't seem to have a much better reaction to this part of the meal, screwing up his face and humming as he chews. But at least he swallows it. "I don't know that I need to eat."

"But you do everything else a human does, including going to the bathroom. So you should probably eat. Maybe you're just not used to it."

"Maybe," Tyler muses, swiping up a glob of sauce and putting the tip of his finger in his mouth.

Josh isn't going to make him eat if he's not hungry, though, so he takes the plate and puts it on his dresser. "What do you wanna do now?"

"You should finish your homework." Tyler shoves the stack of books toward him and they topple over.

Josh still doesn't want to do his homework, but he decides to just get it over with. He doesn't ask Tyler any more questions for now, just buries his nose in his books and writes until his hand starts to cramp up.

He groans, putting his pen down and flexing his fingers.

Tyler, previously laying at Josh's side reading through Josh's Government notebook, shifts and lays his head in Josh's lap instead, covering half of his notes. "What's wrong?"

"Cramp."

Josh continues to crook his fingers, massaging his palm with his other hand.

Tyler abandons the notebook, rising onto his knees and taking Josh's hand gingerly in his. Josh knows again where this is probably going to go, but first Tyler does something weird, presses Josh's hand to his cheek and closes his eyes. He rests there for a second, and his tattoos glow dazzlingly bright.

Josh listens for any sound in the hallway as Tyler takes his hand and turns it over. He kisses Josh's palm, another small, light peck. But then he kisses it a second time, lips lingering over Josh's skin followed by that familiar buzzing heat.

The cramp is gone.

"How the hell do you do that?"

Tyler shrugs and closes Josh's notebook with the pen still inside. "No more homework tonight."

"Cool. You wanna play games?" He only had a few more translations to do for Japanese anyway.

"Only if we can sit together."

That set up's going to be a little awkward, Josh thinks, but eventually he finds that they can both squeeze on the beanbag if Josh sits higher up, resting his back against the wall, while Tyler sits between his legs and slouches against his front.

They play Call of Duty for a while, Josh distracted by Tyler's marks. Tyler is nothing short of ecstatic that he's beating Josh at his own game, glancing back every so often to grin at Josh and press his fingers into Josh's side.

Eventually, though, Tyler falls asleep and Josh extricates himself from the beanbag as carefully as he can, rearranging Tyler so he's in a comfortable enough position to not wake up in pain.

Josh himself goes to the bed and flops down, is out like a light within seconds.

In the middle of the night, Josh feels the bed dip behind him. It's Tyler, crawling under the covers and pressing himself against Josh's back.

"Josh?"

Josh grunts because he's too tired to do much more.

"Why'd you leave me over there?"

Looks like he's going to have to wake up at least enough to calm Tyler down. "Y'fell asleep. Didn't wanna wake you."

" _Josh_ ," Tyler whines, and Josh feels him headbutt right between his shoulder blades.

"Ow, dude." Josh turns, instinctively curls an arm around him and gathers Tyler against him. "Why d'you need t'be close t'me anyways?"

"Jus' do," Tyler murmurs, and behind his eyelids Josh can see him glowing.

-

In the morning Josh gives Tyler a change of clothes and Tyler eats about a quarter of Josh's cereal before turning his nose up at the rest of it. Josh still leaves a Pop-Tart for him to munch on if he happens to get hungry throughout the day.

Tyler gives him that same baleful look before he leaves, but Josh explains, "If I don't go to school, I'll fail."

"Oh. Right," Tyler says, again like he understands completely.

"Tomorrow's Saturday so we can hang out all day, and then Sunday, too."

"Promise?"

Josh reaches out, little finger extended. "Pinky promise."

Tyler winds his pinky finger around Josh's and his tattoos flare up, hair fluffing as he shows his tiny crooked teeth in a bright smile.

Josh leaves after passing his hand through Tyler's hair, just to watch it shoot back into the air afterwards.

At school, all of his teachers are surprised when he hands in his homework. Josh is surprised, too - it didn't even feel like he did all that much while he was at home with Tyler.

During lunch, Josh pops fries into his mouth like they're candy and Nick leans forward. "Do you guys wanna come over after school? We can jam for a little bit before I have to go to my basketball game."

Ben agrees immediately, but Josh has to think about it. Unless he makes a ton of noise and wakes him up when he gets home, Frank won't care. His mom won't mind so long as he texts her and lets her know where he'll be. Tyler is the only reason he can think of not to go.

If left alone for too long, Tyler might start looking for him. Or he might get restless, start making a bunch of noise. Either way Josh is screwed.

But Tyler knows the rules and he'll only be gone an extra couple of hours. So he agrees, albeit hesitantly.

Nick and Ben don't notice, just start discussing which songs they should play.

Josh goes to the rest of his classes, then walks to Nick's house with his friends.

He's there for four hours, from 3:30 to 7:30. Then Nick's mom comes downstairs and tells him they have to leave for the game.

Josh accompanies Ben to his house, a circuitous route that means he has to double back to his place, which lands him home around 8.

Frank is already asleep, Jordan's in the living room watching a movie, and he has no idea where Ashley and Abby are. His mom gives him a kiss on the cheek on his way up the stairs, eying the side of his face that should, by all means, still have a mark on it. But whatever blood had risen to the surface that night had vanished thanks to Tyler, so Josh turns away and takes the stairs up two at a time.

In his room, Tyler is nowhere to be found.

Josh tosses his backpack on the bed and curses, glancing around. "Tyler?"

There's a noise from the corner, back behind the door. Which Josh closes to see Tyler curled up on the floor, head resting on his knees. He's making these tiny mewling noises every couple of seconds. His tattoos are solid black lines on his arms and his hair is laying completely flat.

"Tyler, what's wrong?" Josh tries to approach him carefully, crouching down and placing a hand on his shoulder.

But Tyler surges forward, wraps his arms around Josh's neck. He's freezing. It feels like he's been dunked in an ice bath. He's shaking, teeth chattering beside Josh's ear. "Y-you l-l-left me."

He'd only been gone four hours longer than normal. Five, he corrects himself. Still, he's running his hands over the back of Tyler's shirt, trying to determine what went wrong. "You're really cold."

Tyler nods, pushing himself against Josh like he's trying to crawl inside his skin. "Y'weren't here w-when the sun disap-peared. I waited, b-but now the sun's g-g-gone. 'N I'm cold."

"How do I make you warm again?"

Whether Tyler knows the answer or not, he doesn't tell Josh, just continues to press his chilly limbs against him wherever he can.

Josh trails his hands down Tyler's sides, over his hips to his thighs. As he lifts him, Tyler winds his legs immediately around Josh's waist.

Josh sits on the bed and tries to soothe Tyler, hands roaming over his back, curling his fingers into Tyler's hair, nosing at the shell of his ear. Tyler won't stop shaking, arms and legs locked in a vice-like grip around Josh's shoulders and hips.

As an experiment of sorts, Josh presses a kiss to Tyler's earlobe, lightly. But it doesn't seem to have the same effect on Tyler as Tyler's kisses do on him. It only serves to make Tyler whine and press his chilly face against Josh's neck.

So Josh takes a hand and worms it under the back of Tyler's shirt, pressing his palm and the length of his forearm to Tyler's back. Tyler stops shaking immediately, sighing out across Josh's shoulder and the back of his neck.

Josh adds his other hand beside the first and Tyler melts, going slack against his chest. His arms and legs are no longer cutting off circulation to the lower parts of Josh's body.

Tugging at Tyler's shirt, it takes Josh a minute to coax his torso away long enough to pull it off. He jerks his own shirt off and then pulls Tyler back against him, chest to chest. Tyler murmurs his assent into the top of Josh's shoulder, rubbing his lips across the skin there.

"Is everything okay now?" Josh mutters.

Tyler pulls back, hands clasped to Josh's shoulders. The boxes on his chest are radiating and his hair is standing on end. But his face is serious, hands skimming up Josh's neck to hold fast to either side of his head. "Josh. Don't leave me like that again."

"I'm so sorry. I went to Nick's house and I thought you'd be okay."

Tyler shakes his head. "Don't leave. You can't."

"But why?" Josh isn't trying to make Tyler feel bad, he just wonders why Tyler needs him close all the time.

"Because you're my warmth. Without you I…" He looks like he wants to say something pretty important, but instead he looks at Josh's chin and says, "…I'm cold without you. You can't leave, you just can't."

"You're a star, though. Shouldn't you make your own warmth?"

"That's not how it works."

Tyler is skimming his fingers up and down Josh's jaw, eyes getting heavy. He's putting himself to sleep, especially now that he's so warm and comfortable in Josh's lap.

To keep him awake, Josh leans forward and bumps their noses together. "You have to teach me how it works then."

"Not right now. Not yet."

Josh doesn't know what _not yet_ means, or if he'll ever know what it means. All he knows is that Tyler's falling asleep and he's kind of tired himself. He should take a shower because he probably smells from playing all that time with Nick and Ben.

But he just lays back with Tyler on top of him, lets Tyler breathe wetly on his bare chest.

His markings slowly fade to black as both of them fall asleep.

-

Without Josh's alarm to wake them up, they both start blinking blearily around mid-afternoon. Mostly because Tyler was getting restless, rubbing himself against Josh and tickling him with his hair.

A shower is first on Josh's agenda for the day.

He has a hard time disentangling himself from Tyler, convincing him that he's not going to leave again, and even when he does Tyler comes to stand close behind him as Josh glances into the hallway. But this works in Josh's favor, because then he's able to swiftly usher Tyler out of the room and across the hall into the bathroom.

While Josh runs the hot water and strips out of his pants, Tyler touches everything he can get his hands on. He splashes around with the water from the faucet, pokes at the toothbrushes lined up on the sink, and finally smears the hand soap on his palms and wrists.

Josh has to take Tyler's pants off himself, Tyler planting his sticky hands on Josh's shoulders and upper back as he does so.

Then Josh steps into the shower and holds the curtain open for Tyler.

Tyler warily eyes the water spraying down. "You want me to get _in_ there?" He says it like it's the most ridiculous thing he's ever heard, and that he's heard a lot of very ridiculous things.

Josh nods, splashes Tyler with some water. That has Tyler spluttering and climbing in beside him, far back against the wall so that the water can't touch him.

"C'mon, Ty. The water's fine, I promise." He flicks a bit more in Tyler's direction.

Tyler tentatively steps forward and stretches a soap-slick hand out. The water washes the soap away and Tyler hums contemplatively.

Reaching further past Josh, he puts his arm under the water, then his shoulder, and finally his head.

He seems to be fine with it, so Josh takes that as his opportunity to get to work, squirting some shampoo into his hand and lathering it into Tyler's hair. As he massages it in, Tyler keens and throws his head back. His tattoos sparkle, the steam of the shower masking their radiance. It makes Josh feel like he's in a dream land, where nothing's quite real.

He supposes that's what happens when you harbor a fallen star in your house for any prolonged period of time.

After he's made sure Tyler's washed and rinsed completely, he ministers to himself. Tyler tries to help, but mostly his hands on Josh's waist and chest just make him laugh so Tyler stands directly under the shower head, running his fingers through the water and watching Josh like a hawk.

Wrapping towels around them both, they sneak back into Josh's room.

Josh decides Tyler needs clothes that fit him better, but short of going out and buying him a full wardrobe, he decides there's not much else to be done so he decides to DIY it.

Tyler sits on the bed in his damp towel while Josh uses scissors to cut a pair of his pants into shorts. Then he cuts the sleeves off of an old T-shirt, just so Tyler won't be uncomfortably aware of the way the seams sag past his shoulders.

He can't do anything about the actual fit of the clothes, but when Tyler puts them on he doesn't seem to mind, just tugs Josh down next to him and burrows into his side.

"You hungry?"

Tyler shakes his head and even though Josh's stomach is rumbling quietly, he figures he can forego food a bit longer, at least until he can scratch off the next thing on his agenda.

"We gotta figure out a way for you to come outside with me."

"I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to be outside."

Josh doesn't ask why, because he already knows. First of all, Tyler is weird. By human standards, he means. Any interaction he could have with another person might draw unwanted attention. Second, he glows. Self-explanatory.

But Josh can't put his entire life on hold to stay in his room with Tyler 24/7. Not that he wouldn't try to accommodate Tyler as much as possible, but it's just not plausible. His friends would wonder what was up, his family too, and eventually his mom would barge in while Tyler was there. He at least needs an explanation to give her when that happens.

"We have to try," Josh presses. "Or you'll wind up the same as you did yesterday."

Tyler shivers at the memory, pushes his head against Josh's shoulder. "We can try," he mumbles. "Tonight first. When it's dark."

"Okay," Josh agrees.

They'll work up to it. No point pushing Tyler into something he's not ready for and upsetting him. He pictures Tyler going supernova, blowing up on him and scattering his body parts on the front lawn.

-

That night after dinner he leads Tyler out through the back door, into the forest. Josh is wearing his NASA sweatshirt and he put Tyler in his old black jacket, sleeves falling past his fingers.

He can't see Tyler's tattoos through the thick cotton of the jacket, and that gives him an idea. With Winter coming, Tyler could wear long-sleeved shirts and sweaters and no one would ever see his glow.

Josh leads Tyler to his favorite fallen tree and stops. "See? Not so bad."

Tyler shakes his head and reaches down to run his hand over the rough bark of the tree, fingers catching on the thin slices of wood. He says nothing.

"This is my favorite tree," Josh tells him.

"Why?"

Josh thinks about it, but finds that he doesn't really have an answer. He shrugs. "It just is, I guess."

Tyler presses both hands down onto the tree, and in the faint light thrown by the moon Josh sees his hair stand on end. "I like it, too."

Hopping over the trunk, Josh motions for Tyler to follow him. But Tyler hesitates, dark eyes blown wide as he stares over Josh's shoulder. "We shouldn't go much further than where I landed."

"Okay. We don't have to." Josh hardly ever goes past his tree anyway, and he's never been past the highway.

He holds his hand out for Tyler to take. Tyler does so, poking his fingers through Josh's long sleeves and wrapping a cool hand around Josh's. His skin immediately warms, hair fluffing even more.

When they reach the clearing Tyler's crater is still there. Josh drops Tyler's hand and walks toward it, but Tyler seems hesitant. He stands back near the line of trees, shuffling from foot to foot. Josh's shoes are a little too big on him. The sound of cars flying by on the highway echoes down through the underpass and into the clearing.

"It's okay," Josh promises.

Tyler stumbles forward and stands beside Josh in the middle of the crater, edges smudged where their feet shifted through the dirt. He wraps an arm around Josh's.

"It'll be just like this," Josh promises again, "only with the sun out. I'll be with you the whole time and you can wear long sleeves since it's chilly. No one will see your tattoos."

Tyler doesn't agree, but neither does he disagree. Instead he looks up, lips parted, at the stars. Josh looks up too, bewildered that one of the many twinkling lights above is now standing beside him, wearing his clothes.

He glances back down just in time to see Tyler taking his jacket off, then his shirt. He stands with both in hand, still watching the sky.

"What're you-"

The clouds roll in fast and it starts to rain. A drop lands on Josh's nose, then more speckle his face, his shoulders, his arms.

Tyler is grinning, holding his arms out from his sides. His chest is slick with rain, glistening in the moonlight. Josh stares as the drops become harder and more frequent, and the water clinging to his eyelashes makes Tyler's glow shatter into tiny fractals of light. He's a beacon, a sun unto himself. No, not a sun.

A star.

Josh doesn't find it very difficult at all to step forward and wrap his fingers around Tyler's wrist, feel the heat of Tyler's marks. Tyler is still grinning when Josh kisses him, their teeth clacking awkwardly. But Josh doesn't care and Tyler doesn't seem to either.

Josh holds both of Tyler's wrists in his hands, cradling them up near his chest. Tyler's shirt and jacket are bunched up between them. Josh kisses Tyler over and over, listens to the breathy sounds he makes over the patter of the rain.

When he pulls back, Tyler's glow is reflected in his eyes, twin dark suns.

Tyler worms his wrists out of Josh's grip and presses his warm, wet fingers to Josh's face. "Are you hurt?"

"No," Josh sighs. "I just wanted to do that."

"Oh. Right."

Tyler leans in and seals his lips to Josh's, both of them getting soaked.

-

Josh takes Tyler to Hot Topic so he can pick out some clothes that he likes.

It's no surprise when he gravitates to symbols and pictures he's seen from the video games Josh lets him play. He also picks out a few T-shirts of bands Josh has albums of in his room.

"Alright, now you just have to try 'em on."

Tyler tucks his hands into the hem of his sweater and starts to peel it off. Josh drops everything Tyler has picked out so far in his attempt to stop Tyler from getting naked in the middle of the store. The girl up front glances at them and Josh smiles. "In the dressing room," Josh mutters to Tyler, who starts to pick his clothes up off the floor.

In the changing room at the back of the store, Tyler glows brilliantly as he changes into a Legend of Zelda shirt and a pair of jeans. He runs his hands over the clothes and only glances in the mirror for a second before turning to Josh and curling a hand around his elbow. "Now I look more like you," Tyler giggles.

Josh doesn't agree - Tyler looks nothing like him because Tyler is cute. He's _beyond_ cute, with his tiny crooked teeth and his tattoos that glow.

Josh kisses him and buys him all the clothes he wants. That'll put a dent in the allowance he was saving up, but for Tyler it's worth it.

-

He wants Tyler to meet Nick and Ben, but there are just some days he's not up for going out. On these days, Josh still goes to school, but he always has to decline his friend's invitations to hang out so he can rush straight home and make sure Tyler doesn't feel like he's been left out in the tundra again.

Most days Tyler's fine, like that first day Josh went to school and left him home. Others he's a little shivery and his face feels clammy when he presses it against Josh's neck, but so far Josh has avoided another terrifying Tyler-sicle encounter.

Today is one of the days Tyler doesn't feel like going out so they stay huddled in bed working on Josh's homework together until the sun goes down.

Then Tyler tugs on Josh's sleeve. "Can we go to your tree?"

I thought you weren't feeling well, Josh wants to say. But chances are Tyler just didn't want to be outside during the day again, for whatever reason. He hasn't told Josh why yet. Nor has he revealed why he came to Earth in the first place.

He doesn't seem to have any particular goal in mind, no plan. He's perfectly content to stay in Josh's room cuddling and playing video games or banging on Josh's drum set.

Josh nods and is glad to shove his homework away, even though he's been getting better grades since Tyler started helping him. School work will always be boring no matter what.

On their way out of Josh's room, Tyler trips over his too-big shoes because Josh wanted to wait and save up to buy Tyler a nice pair of Vans. If the thud from Tyler's body hitting the floor wasn't enough to do it, the loud squeak Tyler made must have been.

Much like when Tyler kisses him, Josh knows what's going to happen before it actually does.

From his mom and Frank's room, there's the sound of footsteps. Josh is helping Tyler up when he hears them and all of a sudden he's glancing around, making sure Jordan, Ashley, and Abby are still in their rooms.

Frank had one too many at the dinner table - he was slurring his words before Josh's mom had even plated up the food. But other than banging his fist on the table when Ashley and Abby started bickering, he hasn't laid a finger on anyone in at least a week.

Josh knows that's about to change, so he hauls Tyler to his feet. He wants to tell him to go downstairs, head out back and he'll meet him there in a few minutes. But Tyler won't go without him, he knows that before he even asks.

So he's left to shove a very confused-looking Tyler behind him as Frank opens the door.

"Y'never learn," he slurs as soon as he sees Josh. "I gotta work in th' mornin' an' you're out here havin' a fuckin' party."

"Sorry. My friend tripped." He realizes too late that he should have just said _I tripped_. Then Frank, in his drunken stupor, might never have noticed Tyler standing behind him.

It's quite possible that nothing would have happened.

But Josh isn't that smart.

"Friend?" Frank snorts, glances behind Josh, presumably at Tyler. "What'd your mother tell you 'bout havin' friends over on school nights?"

Frank hates when Josh talks back, but his definition of 'talking back' coincides greatly with Josh's definition of a simple explanation.

"He was just leaving."

Josh doesn't even flinch when Frank's hand lashes out, ring catching on the apple of Josh's cheek, fingernails scraping down along his chin.

"No!" And that's Tyler, stepping around Josh and shoving hard at Frank's chest with both hands. "You don't touch him!"

Frank drunkenly stumbles back and falls. He lands with an even louder bang than Tyler, and it looks like his back hits the doorframe.

Josh is ready to pack his bags and leave for good when his mom appears at the top of the stairs and he hears the sound of doors opening behind him.

Josh turns and motions for his siblings to get back inside. Ashley's the only one too stubborn to listen.

Josh's mom is helping Frank to his feet, glancing from her husband to Josh's face to Tyler and back again. Tyler is pulling at Josh's hand. "Josh, let's _go_."

Tyler's tattoos are just peeking out from under the cuffs of his jacket. If they stick around and Tyler gives just a few more tugs to Josh's hand, someone is bound to see.

"Ashley." The tone of Josh's voice is enough to get his sister back in her room, and he hears the lock click.

He gives his mom a wayward look and then follows Tyler down the stairs.

As they're working their way through the hallway, he hears Frank say something about not wanting that faggot in his house ever again.

Josh isn't sure if he means him or Tyler.

Not that it matters. Because then he and Tyler are outside, sprinting for the woods and Josh's tree.

-

Tyler pushes Josh down against the tree and straddles him. All Josh wants to do is fall asleep for a very long time, or at least close his eyes and not look at anything. But Tyler makes him look, holds his face in both hands and leans their foreheads together.

"Does he hurt you like that a lot?"

Josh shakes his head, because he doesn't. Frank can go weeks without hitting him and Josh has learned that he never lands blows frequently or hard enough to be considered abuse. So what's the point of making a fuss about it?

Tyler looks on the verge of tears. "But when we met…"

Josh tries to grab at Tyler's wrists and pull them down, but Tyler's having none of it, holding fast to Josh's head. "Yes," Josh exhales, "that was from him. But you don't have to worry about that. I won't let him hurt you."

"Not what I'm worried about," Tyler mumbles, leaning in to press his lips to the corner of Josh's mouth.

Immediately the warmth spreads out onto his cheek and down across his chin. Josh could let Tyler fix him, could let him take all the pain away and leave behind an expanse of unmarred skin. But he doesn't.

He pushes Tyler away by the shoulders. Not enough to make him fall from Josh's lap, but enough so that Tyler can't kiss him.

One fat tear rolls from the corner of Tyler's eye and Josh brushes it away, shushing him.

When Josh gathers Tyler against him and tucks Tyler's head under his chin, his hair doesn't tickle. He's upset, but for the wrong reasons, Josh thinks. He doesn't fully understand what's going on. How could he? How could anyone?

Tyler sniffles for a few minutes, until he seems to calm. Then he squirms a bit. "What's faggot mean?"

Josh tries not to scream. "It's a bad word for gay people. For people who like the same gender, other people who look like the-"

"I know what gay is, Josh." Tyler rolls his eyes, looks up at Josh. "Like us."

"Yeah." Josh runs a hand through Tyler's hair, feels it fluffing again. "Like us."

They stay outside until the sun comes up, until Josh is positive Frank is either at work or still passed out drunk.

Then he takes Tyler back inside, or tries to. Tyler plants his feet at the back door and refuses to move.

"He said he didn't want me here anymore."

Josh sighs. "There's nowhere else for you to go, Ty. You have to come in."

Tyler still doesn't move, even though Josh is pulling gently at his hand.

Josh gives him a small smile. "What, are you a vampire now? Can't come inside unless someone invites you?"

Tyler scowls. "I am _not_ a vampire." He steps inside.

In Josh's room, he locks the door and lays down next to Tyler, who has taken off his shirt.

He lays a hand on Tyler's chest, over the rectangle with an X inside. Tyler is so warm, pressing against Josh and keening high in the back of his throat.

"Let me _help_. Please." His fingers are skimming down Josh's jaw, which still burns.

"No." And before Tyler can ask why, "Can I kiss you without fixing this?"

"I don't know if I can do that." But Tyler's eyes are darting around the room, landing anywhere but on Josh.

Josh laughs and drapes himself over Tyler, nuzzling at his ear. "You're such a bad liar."

Tyler huffs. "Fine."

He wraps his arms around Josh's shoulders and drags him down.

-

He misses school that day, but finds it hard to care.

Tyler helps him with the remainder of his homework and then they play video games all afternoon. When his mom comes home and pokes her head in, Josh introduces Tyler as a friend from school. He shies away from the rest of her apologies, but gladly takes the ice pack she offers an hour later.

Tyler glares at him as she shuts the door. He puckers his lips.

Josh shakes his head and returns to the beanbag.

When Frank gets home he stops by, too. Josh unceremoniously shoves Tyler off the beanbag and angles himself toward the door when he hears his stepdad's familiar footsteps, putting himself between the kid and the monster.

"Hey," Tyler whines, but stops when he sees Frank in the doorway.

Frank just stands there for a second, then sighs. "I just wanted to say sorry about last night, Josh. Really."

"It's fine."

"It was a hard day at work and I had to be up early today…y'know how it is."

"Mhm." Josh feels like he's going to throw up, but he won't in front of Tyler.

Frank turns his gaze on Tyler, and nods. "Nice to meet you."

Josh can't see Tyler behind him, but he can feel his heat. A different kind of heat, like anger.

Tyler doesn't say anything so eventually Frank just nods again and leaves. The door slides shut with a quiet sigh.

Josh stays very still, bones like lead. Cartilage like metal.

"Josh?" Tyler is trying to climb back onto the beanbag, between Josh's legs. "Josh, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good." His limbs go from metal to jelly in half a heartbeat, pulling Tyler flush against him and melting when he feels Tyler kiss his chin. "Please don't go away. Please. Don't leave. Don't ever leave, you have to promise."

"I'm not going to leave, Josh." Tyler sounds like even the thought is ludicrous, curled up between Josh's legs as he runs his fingers through Josh's hair. "I came here for you and I'm gonna stay. I promise."

"You came for me?" Josh chokes, stomach flipping.

Tyler looks like he's said too much, climbs on top of Josh properly and holds a finger to his lips. "Not yet. Sorry."

When they kiss this time Josh curls his fingers around Tyler's hips and smiles.

-

Josh knows it's pointless to stop Tyler from healing the mark on his face and still not tell anyone what happened.

"Dude, that's so sick. What happened?" Nick's hand is inching toward Josh's face. Josh slaps it away.

"I got in a fight with a pair of scissors."

Josh isn't sure anyone would believe him if he told them. Frank is a normal guy, a valued member of the community, and it's true that the Duns aren't lacking in money because Frank works for a renowned law firm and his mom's a nurse at the local elementary school.

They aren't the poster child for families suffering from abuse.

So he stays silent, the way he has since he was nine and Frank and his mom first got married.

Since the first time Frank hit him so hard he fell and hit his head against the counter and saw _stars_.

-

Tyler never meets Nick or Ben.

He agrees to, but it never happens. Because one night after dinner Josh is walking past the couch with the rest of his food in hand and a story on the news makes him stop.

_"…missing persons report for Tyler Joseph, a boy from the Thornton Woods community in northern Ohio."_

The name brings him up short just because.

The picture is what does him in. The inset beside the broadcaster is of a boy with dark eyes and darker hair, smiling at the camera. He's wearing a basketball uniform.

It's Tyler. It's _his_ Tyler.

Except it's not because the newscaster is saying that Tyler has been missing for weeks, and if anyone has any clue as to his whereabouts they should phone the news station and let them know and there's no one else in the living room so Josh changes the channel and sprints upstairs.

Tyler is in his room as always, grinning when he sees Josh even though Josh has only been downstairs for about 20 minutes.

Josh is not grinning. Josh is not even smiling, plate shaking in his hand as he stares at Tyler. "Who are you?"

Tyler's head cocks to the side, like a confused puppy. "It's me, Josh. It's Tyler."

"Who _are_ you?" Josh asks, forceful.

Tyler's dark eyebrows pull together and he stands from the beanbag, taking a few shaky steps toward Josh. "I'm Tyler. You know who I am."

"No, I don't. Answer the fucking question."

"Josh, you're scaring me." Tyler's voice trembles, caught in the middle of the room as he wrings his hands together.

And Josh…it hurts him to see Tyler like this, but he forces himself not to care. Because Tyler's not who he says he is.

"Why is there a picture of you on the news? Why are people saying you've been missing for weeks? Why did you come here, Tyler? I think it's high time you told me."

"Oh, gosh." Tyler's fingers go to his face, fanning out over his eyes. "I can explain."

"Please do."

Tyler reaches out to Josh, but Josh walks to the desk and sets the plate down. "Don't touch me."

That hurts the worst, to see Tyler's hair flatten against his forehead and his tattoos go dark. He shivers. "I came for you, I told you that." He swallows. "…I was watching you for a long time. That's how I knew some things. About you, about Earth. I was up there watching. It's how I knew Tyler's tattoos were tattoos. It's how I knew about _failing_ and food. It's how I knew Frank hit you sometimes, even though I didn't _know_ it was him. I couldn't see inside. I only saw you when you came into the forest and looked up at me."

Josh would be lying if he said he isn't scared, just a little. "Is that your body?"

"No." Tyler sounds broken when he says it, but there's no way he can be more broken than Josh. "This boy - Tyler - he was outside that night. With his brother. They were playing on the other side of the highway and they got separated. I liked how he looked. And he was close to you so I took him."

There's a hard knot in Josh's stomach, like Frank has just punched him again. He sits on the bed and closes his eyes. "So you're not Tyler…"

"But I am!" Tyler rushes forward and puts his hands on Josh's arms, runs them up and down Josh's biceps, his forearms, presses his fingers into the crooks of Josh's elbows. "Tyler isn't my real name, but it's my name _now_. And this isn't my real body, but if you saw what I looked like before you wouldn't want me. I'm still yours. I'm your Tyler."

"You're not." Josh stills Tyler's hands with his own, meets Tyler's watery eyes. "You have to give him back."

"W-What do you mean?"

"Tyler's family misses him. You have to give him back to them."

Tyler's eyes go wide, and he shakes. "I can't. If I give him back that means I leave. And you made me promise not to leave. I can't go because you made me promise."

"It's not up to me, Tyler. This is the right thing to do."

"But I'll miss you. And you'll miss me. Don't you love me?"

What do you know about love? Josh wants to ask. But, he supposes, Tyler knows a fair bit about love. More, even, than Josh does. He's loved Josh unconditionally this whole time, either because that was why he came here or because he just _did_.

Josh nods. "I love you. But you can't stay here. Tyler doesn't belong to you. And you have to give him back."

-

Josh leads Tyler back to the crater, both of them trembling in the cold air. He holds Tyler's hand because he needs to and Tyler needs him to.

Then they stand for a while in the middle of the crater, outline smudged from the rain and wind and Josh and Tyler's shoes.

Tyler looks sick, pale and sallow and scared to death. He squeezes Josh's fingers. "I can stay," he whispers. "Just tell me. And I'll stay."

"You can't. Tyler's mom and dad miss him, his brother's looking for him. And anyway if you stay here someone will recognize you eventually."

"Plenty of other stars stay here in bodies they stole. It's normal."

Josh doesn't even want to think about that, how many other aliens have invaded the bodies or corpses of people on Earth. But Tyler is naive. He's always meant well, Josh realizes. To him, there's nothing wrong with the body he took.

"When you said you came for me, what did you mean?"

Tyler still can't give him a straight answer, sliding his fingers up Josh's hand to wrap loosely around his wrist. "I just know that I had to be here for you. That's why stars fall. Because people need us."

How confusing it must have been, for Tyler to go from a concerned star in the sky to Josh's best friend and still not know exactly why.

More confusing for Josh.

They don't kiss again, even though Josh kind of wants to. That would just make it harder for the both of them.

He doesn't ask if he'll see Tyler again, one day, even though he _really_ wants to.

He just lets Tyler go to stand in the middle of the crater, glowing softly.

"Goodbye, Josh."

"Goodbye."

_I'll miss you._

Tyler closes his eyes and his tattoos spark so bright they leave a burn on the backs of Josh's eyelids.

Tyler's body crumples, but Josh doesn't look down right away. He's staring up, forest green blur moving as he searches for any sign of his star. There is none.

Bending down, Josh swipes his fingers under Tyler's sleeve, feeling for a pulse. He finds one, however faint it is. Breathes a sigh of relief even as the glimpse he can see of the tattoos on his wrist are dark, plain black bands circling the tan flesh.

The boy starts to move, mumbling and writhing in the dirt. Josh shushes him, helping him sit up when he thinks he's ready.

The boy - Tyler - blinks at him. His eyes are that same sandy-brown color, and they're wary.

"Hey," Josh says quietly. "I'm Josh."

"Tyler."

**Author's Note:**

> I have [Tumblr](http://gunsvorhands.tumblr.com/).
> 
> will i ever write a fic where tyler isn't trapped in someone's bedroom for most of it lolol


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